TV Directing 01: Scripts

So - I thought I would not be able to blog at all for the next couple weeks as I'm directing a show I can't talk about because it doesn't air until 2009.  However, I realized that what I could do is give a sense of what it is like directing a TV show.  So I'll try to update with short bits over the next couple weeks whenever anything occurs to me.  Mostly I'll just try to give an idea of what the director does.

So - I'll just begin with scrīpts.

TV DIRECTING:  scrīpts

Getting the scrīpt for the show is the first step.  For me, I try to get previous episodes as well and talk to the "show runners" (usually the executive producers and/or head writers) about what has happened up until this point so I  have a sense of what the characters each want in the episodes I'm directing.

When I am reading the scrīpts that I direct I'm looking to make sure I can identify the conflict of the scene.  I'm going to be the one responsible for making sure that the drama comes through in each scene, so I need to make sure I can find it.  If I can't I will ask the show runners about it because I might just be missing a piece of information which would explain why the scene is dramatic.  For example, if the scene is that "Bob" walks up and pets a cat and that's it.  If I didn't know Bob was allergic to cats, that scene would seem really undramatic.  If I know he's been deathly allergic to cats - suddenly I know where the drama is.

Sometimes when I do my read through I will jot down shot ideas if they flash in my head, but mostly I am just trying to find the fulcrum of the scene.

(I've talked about the "fulcrum"  here.)

So, really, that's step one.  Know what makes each scene dramatic.  Step two would be make sure the flow of the scenes also has a dramatic flow and that you know how the pacing of the show will feel.  Basically - you are conducting your scenes like an orchestra and if you really want to make rise in pacing, you'd better make sure you're not starting from a fast pace.  So, you make choices on how the energy of the show will flow.

Challenges.  The scrīpts will often change even after you've broken them down.  You get the scrīpts late so you're already doing things like consulting on props and locations sometimes before you've had a chance to really get through all the material.

Okay back to work.